Complaint: 17/401

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COMPLAINT NUMBER 17/401 COMPLAINANT J Nicholls ADVERTISER AMI, DB Export Ltd ADVERTISEMENT Out of Home DATE OF MEETING 6 November OUTCOME No Grounds to Proceed

Advertisement: The digital billboard advertisement for AMI showed a girl on her veranda and said: "Together we can make our world a little safer."

Another digital billboard shown was for DB Export Larger and showed an image of the product and said: "The ahhh of Lager. The mmmm of hops."

The Chair ruled there were no grounds for the complaint to proceed.

Complainant, J. Nicholls, said: "I believe that an advertisement on alcohol should not be placed in the same context as an advertisement about the safety of children. The series of billboards need to be appropriate for all of them especially if jumping from one to the next so quickly. It is a contradictory statement to make that children are safe in the same context of alcohol especially where there are no adults in the pictures and is inconsistent. The Principle 3 C. is broken where alcohol in advertising should not be prominent for people under the age of 25 and minors should only appear where they would naturally be found. The children in the AMI advertisement on safety would not naturally be around alcohol bottles by themselves or with other adults. According to the Children and Young People's Code also the product and style of advertisement should be appropriate for the audience that this is not where it is open to people of all ages. Rule 11 (b) is broken too where children should not be encouraged to enter into unsafe situations and Rule 1 (i) where advertisements should not be placed in the media where children are a large proportion of the expected audience. And, Rule 1 (j) is broken where a special duty of care must be applied to beverage products in regard to advertising for young people, and they should not state or imply that products are suitable for frequent or daily consumption. And, especially the part of Rule 1 (j) was broken where if possible healthy or better-for-you options should be promoted. This clearly was not promoted as placing an advertisement about the safety of children in the context of one about alcohol is not promoting healthy or better-for-you options." The relevant provisions were Children and Young People Advertising Code - Principle 1, Principle 3, Rule 1(b), Rule 1(i), Rule 1(j) and Code of Ethics Basic Principle 4 of the Code of Ethics.

The Chair noted the Complainant's concern an advertisement about the safety of children should not appear in the same context as an alcohol advertisement.

The Chair considered whether the advertisements were targeting children. In making her determination she took into account the products, presentation and placement of the advertisements and found while the medium carried a level of risk, this mitigated by the types of products advertised which were not appealing to a young audience. The Chair also

17/401 noted their execution was unlikely to appeal to children and young people. On consideration of the above, the Chair ruled the advertisement were not targeting children or young people and the Children and Young People Advertising Code did not apply.

The Chair noted the advertisement featuring the girl was promoting insurance and while children could be exposed to it, they were not the target audience and there was nothing in the advertisement which was likely to have general appeal to children. Turning to the advertisement for DB Export, the Chair noted the advertisement only showed the product. While the Chair acknowledged the concerns of the Complainant, she said the advertisements were for legal products the advertisers were able to promote and did not contain anything that was likely to appeal to children.

The Chair said the placement of the unrelated advertisements as part of the digital billboard rotation did not reach the threshold to the Code of Ethics.

Accordingly, the Chair ruled the complaint had no grounds to proceed.

Chair's Ruling: Complaint No Grounds to Proceed

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